Once More: For Those Who Missed it in January

01Apr

JA Konrath List

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 J.A. Konrath wrote in his blog:
$100,000 – One hundred grand. That’s how much I have made on Amazon in the last three weeks!

This is just for my self-published Kindle titles. It doesn’t include Shaken and Stirred, which were published by Amazon’s imprints. It doesn’t include any of my legacy sales (traditional published) print or e-book. It doesn’t include audio book sales. It doesn’t include sales from other platforms. The numbers don’t show over 1,500 sales I have had in Kindle foreign markets.

This is from my self-published books. The ones, which the Big 6 (NY publishers) rejected. Currently, my novel “The List” is #71 on the Top 100. It’s been in the Top 100 for 66 days. It’s the same one all those publishers rejected. I am soooo glad I had so many books rejected.

So far in January I am averaging well over $3500 a day. I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around these numbers. I am also having a hard time trying to figure out what this means for the future. But I’ll give it a shot. In January of 2010 I made $2300 for the month on Kindle. In January of 2011 I made $34,000. And this January $100,000…

What intrigues me is the UK market. I may sell over 1000 copies of a single title in the UK this month. I price my novels at 1.49 pounds, which means I make $1.60 per sale. So I’m going to earn more in the UK this January than I earned in the US in 2010.

Remember back in April of 2009 when I first self-published on Kindle? I was giddy to have made $1,450 in a month in the US on all of my e-books combined. Now I can make $1600 in a month in the UK on a single title. Amazon is continuing to introduce Kindles to more and more countries. The global market is happening. I can’t see a limit. I can’t see a ceiling. This is no longer a question of choosing between accepting 17.5% royalties from a legacy publisher for an e-book or doing it yourself. This has now become the best way in the history of mankind for a writer to earn money.

We can directly and instantly reach hundreds of millions of consumers in a global marketplace. We can set the list price, and we get to keep the majority of that list price. Readers can buy our work instantly on devices that they love. They don’t have to go to the store, the store is in their hands. Once a book is written and formatted it can sell unlimited copies – forever; without any costs to the writer other than the initial time investment and monetary investment, such as formatting, editing and cover.

I have been following the ebook revolution for three years, and I never could have predicted this would get so big so fast. I have consistently been surprised by numbers and sales, and have lost count of the times I have said, “This is unreal. But it isn’t unreal. It’s very real. I know, because I just pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming – for the fifth time today.